[lbo-talk] The War on the Car

[Gar Lipow]

On 11/14/05, W. Kiernan <wkiernan at ij.net> wrote:
>
>
> Anyway, I have nothing against ultra-efficient cars which run off
> central power plants per se, but if you could talk a fraction the people
> who are inclined to buy an SUV to drive through cities and suburbs into
> buying a merely super-efficient ("super" < "ultra") 660cc hybrid, or
> even that 1500cc speed-demon gas-hog, you could see these things on the
> road next year.  Whereas with pure battery cars like you're talking
> about, before you could get off the ground you'd need to build a
> regional network of charging stations comparable to our network of gas
> stations.  Mass fueling of electric cars isn't even tested technology;
> surely it would take years to work out the bugs and safety hazards.  And
> probably in the process you'd also have to rebuild half of the nation's
> electric grid.
>

I have nothing against ultra-efficient  hybrids either. But electrics
don't need a whole new infrastructure - not for autos with a 250 mile
range. You would charge them at home, at night with off peak power
(homeowners could put in plugs in their parking spaces; apartment
owners would be required to do the same for tenants - one hell of a
lot cheaper than the infrastructure for a hydrogen transition.)  And
electric cars are extremely zippy - great acceleration.  Also don't
forget plugin-hybrids. Take your  muscle hyber-hybrid, and add a
charger. Now  you can travel the first 40 miles on the stored
electricty (which is more than a lot of people travel in a day) and
use fuel only  for daily mileage exceeding that.

Mind you, a hell of a lot of auto travel is a matter of practicallity
not auto love. Look at auto ownership rates in Manhattan - around
1/4th* or less the U.S. average**. Automobile ownership is less
practical there than the U.S. average (parking + traffic) and mass
transit  better.

Provide really good mass transit nationwide - not merely manhattan
level, but say better than Euro-travel (such as automated ultra-light
rail) and a lot of people would gladly give up their cars. Because
automobile love is so celebrated for commerical reasons, I think it is
overlooked how many people in the U.S. drive who really don't like 
driving.

*Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglas;  Cambridge Systematics,
Inc.;NuStats International, RT-HIS Regional Travel -Household 
Interview Survey GENERAL FINAL REPORT. Feb 2000. New York Metropolitan
Transportation Council (NYMTC); North Jersey Transportation Planning
Authority (NJTPA), 24/Feb/2004
<http://www.nymtc.org/files/fr00321.pdf>.p83.
Table 51

**Stacey C. Davis and Susan W. Diegel, TRANSPORTATION ENERGY DATA
BOOK: - Edition 23, ORNL-697(Edition 23 of ORNL-5198). October 2003,
Chapter 5: Heavy Vehicles and Characteristics, Page 8-6, Table 8.5:
Demographic Statistics from the 1969, 1977, 1983, 1990, 1995 NPTS and
2001 NHTS. Oak Ridge National Laboratory for the U.S. Department of
Energy  Office of  Planning,  Budget  Formulation and Analysis Energy
Efficiency and Renewable Energy, 24/Feb/2003
<http://www-cta.ornl.gov/data/tedb23/Full_Doc_TEDB23.pdf>.
p8-6.